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Summary and Preview

140 years ago in Kyoto, with the coming of the American "Black Ships," there arose a warrior who, felling men with his bloodstained blade, gained the name Hitokiri , man slayer! His killer blade helped close the turbulent Bakumatsu era and slashed open the progressive age known as Meiji . Then he vanished, and with the flow of years, became legend.

Tags

Action, Comedy, Drama, Historical, Martial Arts, Romance

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The first thing that I noticed in the manga was the weakness in character development. This was probably because the OVAs made the characters more motivated, or more dramatic. For this I did wish that I should have read the manga before watching the OVAs. The number of words used in the exact same scene, for example, made a whole lot of difference.

Aside from the character development, I noticed a weak relationship build-up in the beginning. The first chapters the characters meet, the next they know each other like the back of the hand. I just thought that the story was half-baked in this aspect. The development of their relationships was not shown for the reader to have empathized. This is why I also appreciated the anime more because it showed at least a little more development than how it was handled here.

In the later chapters though, the manga improved as I did not expect it would. The relationships that lacked development had deepened just as they should, and this was shown subtly and was masterfully done. Perhaps, I lacked the anime to compare it with, since the later parts were never animated except for the OVA Seisouhen. But even up to the OVA parts, although I still think that the OVA wins, the later chapters became one of the finest points in the story as well as in the story-telling. I don't know if it's just my nostalgia, but I still cried in the end.

The main difference I noticed in these later chapters (starting with the Enishi Arc, Remembrance, or the story in the OVA Tsuiokuhen) compared to the OVAs was the little details. I cannot blame Tsuiokuhen for focusing on the past story alone. But it was in the remembering that was painful, and this was to be seen only in the manga. It was putting up with life around new people, all the while bearing a tragic past, that could not have been shown in the OVAs.
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